Bouldering & Free Climbing

If you are interested in rock-climbing and want try it out on the cheap, I suggest you try bouldering. Which is a division of Rock-climbing, but you don’t go any further than 10 feet off the ground. Which means you can cut out a lot of the cost of having ropes, harnesses, carabineers, and cams. All you need to have is a helmet and shoes. (Preferably rock climbing shoes) Having rock-climbing shoes will help your feet sick to the rocks and increase your abilities. If you look at the pro climbers they don’t climb in tennis shoes. They have special shoes with special rubber compounds which grab the rock. Its important for these shoes to be tight fitting and give your foot lots of support. U have to keep in mind that most of your body weight will be supported by your toes. You are only using your hands for balance and keeping yourself close to the rock face. You will also need a helmet, now I don’t mean a bike helmet. Not to say that it won’t work, but there are helmets specific to rock climbing. These helmets are made specifically to protect your head from falling rocks and debris. Once you have these two things you just have to get out and climb!

A bigger division of bouldering is free solo climbing. This is where you actually climb the whole rock face without ropes or any safety measures.  The people who do this are either one, crazy, or two professional rock climbers. Generally this technique is used during speed climbing where ropes and other safety devices are slow and clunky. Although one of the coolest and most expansive areas of climbing right now, would be free climbing over water. Most of this kind of climbing is done in just a swimsuit and climbing shoes. These climbers don’t even where helmets, which I think is a bit crazy. What makes it so popular is the fact that if you fall you end up in the water. Making this one of the safest divisions of free solo climbing. I have never done this kind of climbing, but I hope to plan a spring break trip where my buddies and I can free climb over the ocean. I can’t even imagine how cool it must feel to work hard to reach the top of the face and then jump into the ocean. It must be so refreshing and rewarding, making the climb totally worth it.